The West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (“WKCDA”) announced today details of the design competition for the Arts Pavilion (“the Pavilion”) in the West Kowloon Cultural District (“WKCD”) and launched an open invitation to register for participating in the single stage design competition.

The Pavilion aims to provide an exhibition and event space for artists, designers, organisations and other parties planning to stage independent small-scale exhibitions and events on the WKCD site. In the run-up to the completion of the M+, a future museum for 20th and 21st century visual culture, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, in late 2017, the Pavilion will also serve as the museum’s primary site for its exhibitions, to further extend the museum’s mission into the Park and public sphere. The Pavilion is planned to be completed in 2015.

The Pavilion is located in the Park on the waterfront with spectacular views overlooking Victoria Harbour, creating the opportunity for proposals to add a connection between the new building and this open landscaped area for larger scale outdoor exhibitions and events.

The WKCDA seeks a design that is cost-effective, original, inspiring, highly-buildable and sustainable. With a gross floor area of 470 square metres, it should be an architecturally innovative solution that demonstrates cost effectiveness in its design to meet the budget of HK$20 million for construction. The Pavilion should present a design that is architecturally innovative while serving content-driven, programmatic and functional needs.

Submission entries will be adjudicated anonymously by a panel of seven jurors co-chaired by Mr. Rocco YIM, a Hong Kong architect and Dr. Lars NITTVE, Executive Director of M+. For further details of the Jury Panel, please refer to Annex. Three winning entries and six commendation entries will be selected.

To encourage extensive participation, this Competition is open to all interested design teams, including architects, designers, artists, or other related professionals, to take part as “Lead Participant”. Individual or group participants who are not the Hong Kong Institute of Architects (“HKIA”) Registered Practices will be required to partner with a HKIA Registered Practice. The participating design team shall include a Hong Kong Authorized Person and a Registered Structural Engineer, both registered under the Buildings Ordinance, and a building services engineer. Each Lead Participant is permitted to submit only one entry, but each provider of professional services is permitted to submit another entry as Lead Participant.